Champions League: Nothing to declare

Nigel Martyn, the England goalkeeper with accolades galore but an empty trophy cabinet at home, is within reach of his first major honour - but he dare not even think about it.

The Leeds United star is regularly named as the Premiership's top keeper by his fellow professionals, yet has nothing to show for it bar a generous handful of caps and enough back-slaps to put him in traction.

Now the 34-year-old Cornishman, who has been at Elland Road nearly five years, is closing in on the Champions League Final in Milan next month - assuming Leeds do not squander a 3-0 first-leg, quarter-final lead against Deportivo La Coruna tonight.

Martyn expects the fired-up Spanish champions to throw everything his way - and he cannot bring himself to look beyond tonight's tense 90 minutes.

But the goalkeeper who has won nothing since Crystal Palace's 1994 promotion season - and before that nothing more uplifting than a Third Division title with Bristol Rovers - admitted: 'Only a couple of weeks ago I was thinking that was what was missing. I've really enjoyed my career, but there's not been enough walking up steps and collecting medals.

'It has been frustrating. But I am at a club that's now capable of winning things. It's come about late in my career, but hopefully we can pick up some trophies.

'The European Cup? It would certainly be strange if that were to be the first one but I can't get carried away. We still face a tough second leg against Deportivo before we can even start thinking about anything else.

'They are very unpredictable, which is what makes them dangerous. Most teams play in a certain way and you're more or less aware of what they're going to do. With sides like Deportivo, you have to be very careful how you go about things.'

The veteran has seen the Leeds youngsters blossom into a formidable outfit, and even his own position is under pressure now from 21-year-old Paul Robinson, an England goalkeeper-in-waiting who deputised magnificently when Martyn was ruled out for nearly four months.

Martyn said: 'We really are still a pretty naive bunch when it comes to Europe. It still seems like a big adventure to us, just as it did when we were trying to qualify against Munich 1860 last August.

'We're not experienced enough yet to fear the opposition. The more times we play, the more calculated and clinical we'll become, I suppose. People forget it's our first year. We've gone from watching it on telly to playing in the quarter-finals.

'When Deportivo talked about us being the weakest side in the last eight, it was a true reflection. All the other teams would have gone for us as well. But people will start taking us seriously now. They've seen what we're capable of and they'll give us more respect.'

Martyn, who expects to be at the heart of Leeds' performance tonight, added: 'I feel that I'm coming back to playing as well as I can. I made some mistakes when I came back from injury because I was a bit rusty.

'Deportivo are saying that they'll score four. But we're confident we can stop them doing that and can get one ourselves. We've already managed that in some big arenas this season.'

Javier Irureta, normally safety-first coach of Deportivo, admits he must turn gambler if his team are to overturn their three-goal deficit against Leeds. 'We will have to take risks and our only option is to attack the whole match,' said Irureta.

'In a game like this we can't worry about defending.'

At least Irureta can look to his team's comeback against Paris St Germain for inspiration. Deportivo rallied from 3-0 down after 55 minutes to score an astonishing 4-3 victory in a group match - only the second time a three-goal deficit has been overturned in the Champions League.

Deportivo's recent domestic form has been unconvincing. They had to come from a goal behind to carve out a 2-1 victory against relegation battlers Osasuna on Saturday and lost to Real Zaragoza the previous week.